Penang
The Gurney Hotel and Residences
We'd stayed at the Gurney before and liked it there. The two-bedroom suites are generously large in size and came with a jacuzzi tub with a view to die for. Generous windows open up to a view of the waterfront, the mainland in the distance, fishing boats out on the water and lots of blue sky.
This time however, we came without a prior reservation, and found all the two-bedroom suites had been booked out. We took two interconnecting Studio Suites instead. The walk-in rates for the Studio Suite are at RM265 per room per night. But because KH comes to Penang often on business, his company maintains a corporate account at The Gurney so we were able to get lower rates at RM190 per room per night for a Studio Suite.
We were given a high floor on the 18th floor with panoramic views of Penang Hill, a general city view, and of the Gurney stretch of hotels and condominiums, the harbour and a hazy mainland outline. At nights, when the city lights came on, the view looked like pretty twinkling Christmas lights. On our last morning, we even spotted a sea eagle soaring and dipping over the sea and perching on the fringes of the swaying casuarinas below the hotel.
With a King-sized bed in each suite, it was pretty comfortable for us - although a bit of a squeeze for the 4 kids in one bed. Lucky they are mostly small-sized kids!
But what thrilled the kids most was the large jacuzzi tub which had a 'window' into the bedroom. The highlight for them was tub time everynight!
The hotel also had two generous sized pools, one with a slide and the other, an infinity pool. But the drawback was, the water was so cold that the kids barely spent 10min in there before giving up, shivering away. The hotel also offered breakfast with a higher room rate. We chose not to have that - Penang has such a wealth of good food that it seemed a sin to have the standard hotel buffet brekkie.
The location of the hotel is excellent since it is not far from the Ferry Terminal, allowing us to take the coastal road, avoiding traffic congestion in and around Komtar and the centre of Georgetown. Being on Gurney Drive also means easy access to the good food. An excellent small hawker centre about 100m down is well-known for the char koey teow and the roasted chicken wings. Further down the road, within walking distance, is Gurney Plaza where we watch movies and do our shopping. The hotel is also very near the good food places - Pulau Tikus, Jalan Burmah, Lor Selamat, Jalan McAllister, and the Chinese Recreation Club. Also not too far away from Georgetown proper with the sights of the Esplanade, Chinatown, Love Lane etc barely a 10min drive away.
Overall rating: 8 out of 1o. I give it this rating because of the comfy bed, the great views and overall, it is good value for the price we paid! We spent 2 nights here and it seemed better value for money than the upper-crust Parkroyal. The Gurney's location is convenient and excellent. Amid the hustle and bustle of Penang, this allows you to take in the sights easily, look for good food right on the doorstep and still come back to a haven.
Malaysia - hotel reviews III
Penang
Parkroyal Penang at Batu Ferringhi
We had stayed at the Parkroyal several years ago and had a good time. But because its rates kept going up, we could not stay there everytime we went. This vacation however, I wanted to give the kids a treat, so I booked 2 rooms for a one night stay at the Parkroyal. The hotel had a promotion at RM345nett per room per night which included a free upgrade.
The rooms we were given were on the first floor, facing a tennis court and carpark which made me doubt whether they had actually upgraded us or not, but we gave the hotel the benefit of the doubt. The rooms (we had interconnecting rooms) were generously sized. One room had a King-sized bed with a single bed. The other room had three singles. Despite the fact that we'd been there almost 4 years ago, the decor still remained fresh and up-to-date and the beds, as generous as we remembered.
We had a swim in the lovely pool, tried walking on the beach but were terrorised by the parasailers, jet skis and odd pony. The pool, however, was very nice - a freeform pool prettily landscaped with palm trees and 'islands'. The second pool had a well-utilised slide with a lifeguard watching over the users, and a netted area where ball games could be played. The hotel looked to be quite full and the pools were pretty crowded.
After the swim, we headed out for dinner, remembering that there was an open air food centre down the road. But here's where the comedy began. After walking for about 10, 15min and probably about 1km or so, we still had not come to the hawker centre. The narrow pavements were further occupied by the permanent pasar malam stalls and clogged with pedestrians and hawkers. Not easy walking through that with loud music blaring from speakers, heavy 3-year-old who refused to walk and wanted us to carry, antsy 13-year-old who got distracted at every bootleg dvd stand and straggling smaller kids like Cait and Owain to keep up. We began to wonder if we were mistaken, if the hawker centre had been pulled down etc. So KH decided to walk back to the hotel to get the car. We waited at the side for the next 15min. When he came, we hopped in and drove off, only to find the elusive hawker centre merely about 20m away from where we had waited! So the poor guy had to do a u-turn, drop us off, had a nasty face-off with an older caucasian man who still thought penang belonged to the colonial masters, and then drive back to the hotel and walk up to the hawker centre. I felt so bad that he had to walk that distance 3 times!
Thankfully we were lucky in getting a table, the food was pretty good (or maybe we were hungry!) and all hungry kids gobbled their food in record time!
We made our back to the hotel where another problem awaited. By about 10pm, we realised that the airconditioning in one of the rooms was not working. Called maintenance who came, tried to fix the problem with no success. The guy told us that it can't be fixed, that this was not the first time that room 158 had experienced this problem, that he had told the management this already but looks like nothing was done. So KH called the front desk. Front desk hemmed and hawed. There was no offer to change room. They insisted on sending a maintenance guy. The same guy came back and told us that front desk had told him off for being so honest with us about the inherent aircon flaw. We were pretty pissed to learn about that. Nevertheless, the aircon can't be fixed. So called the front desk again. Then came offer to change ONE room. We said no because we needed interconnecting rooms for the children. Front desk said they were full that night - hemmed and hawed again. After some to-ing and fro-ing, a bit of KH frothing at the mouth, they agreed to change our rooms and said it was an upgrade - magnanimous of them!
So around 10.30pm, all kids in their PJs, we hastily packed up and moved up to the third floor. The rooms were nicer - facing the sea, with a balcony, a bathtub instead of a shower stall, and with more beds. One came with a King and a Queen while the other had two King-sized beds. Plenty of room.
We turned on the aircon and found to our dismay that this was happening again - aircon faulty. KH frowned at the thought of calling the front desk again, so we called maintenance. The guy tried to fix it and this time, it worked. But once the right valves were opened, in wafted this damp, musty smell of long clogged pipes! It was so strong it lasted till morning! But by then, it was past 11pm and we were in no mood to tussle with the front desk or change rooms again, so we made do with the stench.
My woes are not done because at the bedhead of the Kingsized bed I was occupying with Trin, an irritating mozzie was buzzing about. Despite my best attempts, I could not swipe it. In the middle of the night, I could see Trin scratching and tossing restlessly. The next morning, the evidence was there - 8 bites on her face and 5 or 6 on her arms. And because our friend was eczemic, the bites quickly swelled up, turned red and inflammatory.
Breakfast was chaotic and the place was super-packed. Lots of middle-eastern, arab guests. Good spread though with a nice penang char kway teow section, comprehensive selection of freshly squeezed juices, the usual egg station and a good salad section with alfalfa sprouts (usually not included in many spreads). But because the place was so full and so crowded, the staff appeared distracted and were very busy zooming off here and there.
Kids made the most of the pool and went for a post-brekkie swim. When we checked out, I told the receptionist about the mozzies, the stench etc. I even plonked Trin on the counter to show her the bites. She made cooing noises of sympathy but did not apologise, or make any proactive offers.
Overall, I'd say the place is posh, luxely done up, generously sized rooms and the better rooms had nice touches like bathrobes, balconies etc. But they have to do something about the airconditioning and the mozzies. Its only a basic requirement of any hotel, let alone a five-star one like this, to have adequate airconditioning. Its all about maintenance. No point having a swish facade but crap internal systems that fail. The hotel also has to up its service quality. The service here, particularly at the front desk, seems to have overtones of efficient snootiness. Yes, they are polite, but the smiles are perfunctory, the lines are brisk and rehearsed. The service recovery is poor. There was no concern shown, no acknowledgement or apology that the hotel has lapsed in service. Pity, because these little things have a nasty habit of snowballing. In today's internet age, accounts of poor service can spread very quickly. Keep this up and the hotel's reputation will be subtly eroded over time.
Overall rating: 4.5 out of 10
P/s: When I came home to Singapore, I wrote to the VP of the parent Parkroyal group, cc'ed to the larger UOL group. Within a day, I had a reply from the General Manager of the Penang Parkroyal. He apologised for the lapses, assured me that follow-up work will be done with the Chief Engineer and the Front Desk, and as a gesture of goodwill, offered me two nights' stay at the hotel. Which I promptly thanked him for, and accepted.
This speedy response gains the hotel brownie points and my overall rating for the hotel is cranked up to 6 out of 10. In my opinion, still not good enough for a 5-star hotel and the prices they command, but let's see how things go with my next stay there in June this year. I will post another review in June and hopefully, my overall rating will go up.
Parkroyal Penang at Batu Ferringhi
We had stayed at the Parkroyal several years ago and had a good time. But because its rates kept going up, we could not stay there everytime we went. This vacation however, I wanted to give the kids a treat, so I booked 2 rooms for a one night stay at the Parkroyal. The hotel had a promotion at RM345nett per room per night which included a free upgrade.
The rooms we were given were on the first floor, facing a tennis court and carpark which made me doubt whether they had actually upgraded us or not, but we gave the hotel the benefit of the doubt. The rooms (we had interconnecting rooms) were generously sized. One room had a King-sized bed with a single bed. The other room had three singles. Despite the fact that we'd been there almost 4 years ago, the decor still remained fresh and up-to-date and the beds, as generous as we remembered.
We had a swim in the lovely pool, tried walking on the beach but were terrorised by the parasailers, jet skis and odd pony. The pool, however, was very nice - a freeform pool prettily landscaped with palm trees and 'islands'. The second pool had a well-utilised slide with a lifeguard watching over the users, and a netted area where ball games could be played. The hotel looked to be quite full and the pools were pretty crowded.
After the swim, we headed out for dinner, remembering that there was an open air food centre down the road. But here's where the comedy began. After walking for about 10, 15min and probably about 1km or so, we still had not come to the hawker centre. The narrow pavements were further occupied by the permanent pasar malam stalls and clogged with pedestrians and hawkers. Not easy walking through that with loud music blaring from speakers, heavy 3-year-old who refused to walk and wanted us to carry, antsy 13-year-old who got distracted at every bootleg dvd stand and straggling smaller kids like Cait and Owain to keep up. We began to wonder if we were mistaken, if the hawker centre had been pulled down etc. So KH decided to walk back to the hotel to get the car. We waited at the side for the next 15min. When he came, we hopped in and drove off, only to find the elusive hawker centre merely about 20m away from where we had waited! So the poor guy had to do a u-turn, drop us off, had a nasty face-off with an older caucasian man who still thought penang belonged to the colonial masters, and then drive back to the hotel and walk up to the hawker centre. I felt so bad that he had to walk that distance 3 times!
Thankfully we were lucky in getting a table, the food was pretty good (or maybe we were hungry!) and all hungry kids gobbled their food in record time!
We made our back to the hotel where another problem awaited. By about 10pm, we realised that the airconditioning in one of the rooms was not working. Called maintenance who came, tried to fix the problem with no success. The guy told us that it can't be fixed, that this was not the first time that room 158 had experienced this problem, that he had told the management this already but looks like nothing was done. So KH called the front desk. Front desk hemmed and hawed. There was no offer to change room. They insisted on sending a maintenance guy. The same guy came back and told us that front desk had told him off for being so honest with us about the inherent aircon flaw. We were pretty pissed to learn about that. Nevertheless, the aircon can't be fixed. So called the front desk again. Then came offer to change ONE room. We said no because we needed interconnecting rooms for the children. Front desk said they were full that night - hemmed and hawed again. After some to-ing and fro-ing, a bit of KH frothing at the mouth, they agreed to change our rooms and said it was an upgrade - magnanimous of them!
So around 10.30pm, all kids in their PJs, we hastily packed up and moved up to the third floor. The rooms were nicer - facing the sea, with a balcony, a bathtub instead of a shower stall, and with more beds. One came with a King and a Queen while the other had two King-sized beds. Plenty of room.
We turned on the aircon and found to our dismay that this was happening again - aircon faulty. KH frowned at the thought of calling the front desk again, so we called maintenance. The guy tried to fix it and this time, it worked. But once the right valves were opened, in wafted this damp, musty smell of long clogged pipes! It was so strong it lasted till morning! But by then, it was past 11pm and we were in no mood to tussle with the front desk or change rooms again, so we made do with the stench.
My woes are not done because at the bedhead of the Kingsized bed I was occupying with Trin, an irritating mozzie was buzzing about. Despite my best attempts, I could not swipe it. In the middle of the night, I could see Trin scratching and tossing restlessly. The next morning, the evidence was there - 8 bites on her face and 5 or 6 on her arms. And because our friend was eczemic, the bites quickly swelled up, turned red and inflammatory.
Breakfast was chaotic and the place was super-packed. Lots of middle-eastern, arab guests. Good spread though with a nice penang char kway teow section, comprehensive selection of freshly squeezed juices, the usual egg station and a good salad section with alfalfa sprouts (usually not included in many spreads). But because the place was so full and so crowded, the staff appeared distracted and were very busy zooming off here and there.
Kids made the most of the pool and went for a post-brekkie swim. When we checked out, I told the receptionist about the mozzies, the stench etc. I even plonked Trin on the counter to show her the bites. She made cooing noises of sympathy but did not apologise, or make any proactive offers.
Overall, I'd say the place is posh, luxely done up, generously sized rooms and the better rooms had nice touches like bathrobes, balconies etc. But they have to do something about the airconditioning and the mozzies. Its only a basic requirement of any hotel, let alone a five-star one like this, to have adequate airconditioning. Its all about maintenance. No point having a swish facade but crap internal systems that fail. The hotel also has to up its service quality. The service here, particularly at the front desk, seems to have overtones of efficient snootiness. Yes, they are polite, but the smiles are perfunctory, the lines are brisk and rehearsed. The service recovery is poor. There was no concern shown, no acknowledgement or apology that the hotel has lapsed in service. Pity, because these little things have a nasty habit of snowballing. In today's internet age, accounts of poor service can spread very quickly. Keep this up and the hotel's reputation will be subtly eroded over time.
Overall rating: 4.5 out of 10
P/s: When I came home to Singapore, I wrote to the VP of the parent Parkroyal group, cc'ed to the larger UOL group. Within a day, I had a reply from the General Manager of the Penang Parkroyal. He apologised for the lapses, assured me that follow-up work will be done with the Chief Engineer and the Front Desk, and as a gesture of goodwill, offered me two nights' stay at the hotel. Which I promptly thanked him for, and accepted.
This speedy response gains the hotel brownie points and my overall rating for the hotel is cranked up to 6 out of 10. In my opinion, still not good enough for a 5-star hotel and the prices they command, but let's see how things go with my next stay there in June this year. I will post another review in June and hopefully, my overall rating will go up.
Malaysia - hotel reviews II
Ipoh and Pangkor
Ritz Garden Hotel
Can't afford the 'Carlton' in the Ritz so we settled for next best - the 'Garden'. Located in the heart of the newer section of Ipoh town at Jalan Yang Kalsom, the Ritz Garden has been our favourite base in Ipoh for some time.
Our first visit to Ipoh saw us staying at the Seri Malaysia chain's Ipoh branch. The condition of the hotel was really bad - damp carpets, bathroom doors suffering from rot, smell of stale durian in the fridge and it had a really spooky air about it. The other places in Ipoh either looked sleazy, were over-priced or inconveniently located. We thought we would actually skip Ipoh as a night-stop until we found the Ritz Garden. Since then, its been our preferred base in Ipoh.
This is a small 2-star hotel with smart and newly refurbished rooms that are clean and comfortable. At RM145 (low floors) or RM165 (higher floor - actually not much of a difference since the hotel only has about 7 floors with the 8th and 9th taken up by penthouse suites) for a Super Deluxe, this was really value for money.
The rooms are compact and come with either king or twin beds. We usually take inter-connecting rooms for our brood. Views from the upper floors show a scene of rooftops from old shophouses, school fields, schools, churches and in the distance, a bluish hazy outline of the limestone outcrops that surround Ipoh.
On our recent visit though, the room we had a pungent smell of hair oil. We asked if something could be done and the housekeeping section sent a guy with a deodoriser which he enthusiastically sprayed and it was only then that we realised that THAT was the smell - help! We had to air out both rooms in the end by opening up the windows. I would like to think this was isolated though, because we've never experienced that during our previous stays. Other than that, the rooms are sparkling clean.
Breakfast spread in the morning was modest and nothing fancy, usually nasi lemak and condiments as a main course, but the staff were helpful and did not bat an eyelid for our requests for 10 half boiled eggs, 7 empty bowls, soya sauce etc. It might not seem like much but we do get disbelieving looks at other places we've stayed at.
Because the hotel is located in the heart of the new town, it provides easy access to good food. Two traffic lights away north on Jalan Yang Kalsom, past the big central police station, turn left and you'll come to the intersection where three famous names for Ipoh hor fun vie for your attention.
Ipoh also has an interesting old town where many pre-war buildings are left pretty much intact, so much so that Lee Ang chose to film Lust Caution here in the old town as old Hong Kong. Here in the heart of the old town, there's an iconic coffee shop that sells slurpily yummy Ipoh hor fun in the day. Cross the Kinta river and you'll come to what I think is the grandest building in Ipoh, the lovely St Michael's Institution with its soaring gables, graceful verandas and large fields. How I wish we had schools like this in Singapore - so much character, history and charm. Across from that is the old padang and with it, the quintessential club that comes with every 'padang' from KL to Singapore. In Ipoh's case, it is the Royal Ipoh Club. Round the corner, the FMS bar still stands. In the old days, planters would congregate here for their stengahs and some camaraderie on weekends. Today, it still functions as a bar and restaurant, albeit a bit faded around the edges and it is believed to be Malaysia's oldest functioning bar!
We also visited the old railway station, now converted to a hotel. While the facade looked like it was recently whitewashed, the interior looks disappointing. The ground floor has been partitioned off into sleazy small 'massage parlours'. Upstairs, a generous veranda fronts the building. The flooring and fixtures still look original, but the rooms are a real gloomy letdown - low ceilings, musty, cramped, dark with only one tiny window opening up to a grim view of half-abandoned corridors in the other wing. The bathroom retains much of the original fixtures, from the porcelain tubs right down to the flooring. I think the place is actually quite charming and its just a real pity that it is not better restored and maintained. Given the history, the architecture and the location, this place could really work as a lovely boutique hotel.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10. Excellent value!
Swiss Garden Golf Resort and Spa, Damai Laut
The last time we went to Pangkor, we could not get any rooms on the island, so we settled for a rundown place in Lumut which gave me a spooky night experience. This time, we thought we'd be better prepared and book a stay at the Swiss Garden. Lumut accomodation, by the way, is generally limited to very run-down places that are not really worth the money or the time. So we thought we'd pay a bit more and stay at a better place.
From the map given by the resort, Lumut looked deceptively near, so we thought it would be no problem commuting to Lumut if we had to. We thought wrong of course. From the turn-off on Route 5, the main road from Ipoh to Lumut, we followed signs to the Swiss Garden. It took us well over half an hour from Route 5 to the resort. So much so that we wondered if we were actually lost, muttering to ourselves, that the resort can't be that far! It took us past industrial plants, river mouths spanned by three bridges, and seemingly, further and further away from Lumut. Finally we drove down a narrow plantation road, flanked by mangroves and a pineapple and dragon fruit plantation before finally seeing the resort gateway. From the gate, it was another five minutes drive to the resort proper - passing the condo, the golf course, assorted bungalows etc. Geez the place is really really remote!
Because its so remote, most guests are really held captive there because it takes too long to go anywhere else. Under these circumstances, it was no surprise that everything cost a bomb in the hotel. The ferry ride to Pangkor was a whopping RM35 per adult, RM23 per kid. In contrast, the ride from Lumut was just RM10 per adult! Initially, our plan was to arrive early, park the bags at the hotel and take the hotel ferry across. Instead, because it was just so exorbitant, we decided to shelve our Pangkor plan for the next day instead and just spend the day at the resort.
So what to do at a resort? The hotel had a 'recreation centre' which claimed to organise treks etc. But when we checked with them, they said "no treks today because this is rainy season and there are leeches" then in the same breath, they added, "but tomorrow morning you can check with us and see, we may still do a small trek if you really want!" Huh? Got leech or no leech? Er, you mean the leeches disappear overnight? Hmm...
The resort had a beach, but the 'sand' was really loads of coral skeletons. The coarse sand was 'white' but dig deeper and you reach darker soil which made me wonder if this was really a natural beach or an artificial one. The water was not family-friendly because about 5 to 10m out, there is a steep drop-off so you'd really have to watch the smaller kids if they get into the water.
What fascinated me was the ikan bilis! Loads of ikan bilis swimming by me (unnerving at first!), and then beaching and killing themselves. The kids had a good time picking up and counting the dead ikan bilis - there were thousands. There were also free kayaks so KH and the older kids went kayaking.
The pool was nice with an infinity element. We had a lovely moment as a family, all 7 of us, swimming to the infinity wall, perching there to admire the pretty sunset over Pangkor island which we could see over the bay.
The hotel seemed quite full. Because we were basically quite stuck there, we had little choice when it came to food. The kids were happy to have pizza and TV in the room. So KH and I went looking for food in the various restaurants. The Chinese steamboat/noodle place was packed to the gills, so we headed for the main coffeehouse. KH wanted just an ala carte dish but they were not serving ala carte. No choice but to take the buffet which was RM40 per person!! The main dishes on the buffet were all hot and chilli-spicy, which posed a problem for Trin.
The room itself was comfortable but worn about the edges but this is a bit more forgiveable than the Zon because this is a resort and there is a more laidback atmosphere. Note though, that it is not as slick as the website or brochures would have you believe. However, the ick factor for me was a pungent stench of urine in the bathroom. The kids denied having any accidents in the bathroom. When I looked closer at the toilet bowl, I realised that there was a layer of yellow pee on the floor behind the toilet bowl - yeech!! I tried hosing down the place with water but no use, the smell remained.
The next day at breakfast, we were given a table in a corner that was seemingly infested with flies. You couldn't eat without waving or flapping something at those annoying bugs. There was also that strong antiseptic smell of Dettol! What is it with me and with smells this trip?? I keep sniffing out these really strong, awful smells and it really bothers me. The 'Dettol' smell was there in the hotel's public loos, and we checked - we were not sitting near a toilet - but the smell was still there. So I don't know, little things like this matter to me. Just gives me the icky feeling and made me doubt that the hotel's cleanliness standards are up to par.
Again, its the little things that count - coffee and tea in the breakfast buffet is neither served by the wait-staff nor are they prepared in glass pots and left on the heater on the counter. Rather, they have a hot-water dispenser and sachets where you DIY. I guess I am being nit-picky about this, but its about presentation I suppose and as with the Zon hotel in KL, the little details that are lacking really show how much heart the management puts into running a resort/hotel - are they genuinely out to provide good service and a memorable stay or do they see it as just a job, out to make a fast buck and then run the place with boredom and indifference? With the Swiss Garden and with the Zon in KL, looks like its the latter.
Overall rating: 4 out of 10. We would not come here again, nor would we recommend our family and friends to this place either. It is too remote, and the remoteness means we are held hostage at the resort to ridiculous prices. The cleanliness is suspect and the food quite blah. At RM230++ per night per room, er, this is not money well spent. If we ever do go to Pangkor again, we will just make it a day trip from Ipoh itself. Our stay at the tiny 2-star Ritz Garden was a lot more comfortable than at this overpriced 5-star resort!
Ritz Garden Hotel
Can't afford the 'Carlton' in the Ritz so we settled for next best - the 'Garden'. Located in the heart of the newer section of Ipoh town at Jalan Yang Kalsom, the Ritz Garden has been our favourite base in Ipoh for some time.
Our first visit to Ipoh saw us staying at the Seri Malaysia chain's Ipoh branch. The condition of the hotel was really bad - damp carpets, bathroom doors suffering from rot, smell of stale durian in the fridge and it had a really spooky air about it. The other places in Ipoh either looked sleazy, were over-priced or inconveniently located. We thought we would actually skip Ipoh as a night-stop until we found the Ritz Garden. Since then, its been our preferred base in Ipoh.
This is a small 2-star hotel with smart and newly refurbished rooms that are clean and comfortable. At RM145 (low floors) or RM165 (higher floor - actually not much of a difference since the hotel only has about 7 floors with the 8th and 9th taken up by penthouse suites) for a Super Deluxe, this was really value for money.
The rooms are compact and come with either king or twin beds. We usually take inter-connecting rooms for our brood. Views from the upper floors show a scene of rooftops from old shophouses, school fields, schools, churches and in the distance, a bluish hazy outline of the limestone outcrops that surround Ipoh.
On our recent visit though, the room we had a pungent smell of hair oil. We asked if something could be done and the housekeeping section sent a guy with a deodoriser which he enthusiastically sprayed and it was only then that we realised that THAT was the smell - help! We had to air out both rooms in the end by opening up the windows. I would like to think this was isolated though, because we've never experienced that during our previous stays. Other than that, the rooms are sparkling clean.
Breakfast spread in the morning was modest and nothing fancy, usually nasi lemak and condiments as a main course, but the staff were helpful and did not bat an eyelid for our requests for 10 half boiled eggs, 7 empty bowls, soya sauce etc. It might not seem like much but we do get disbelieving looks at other places we've stayed at.
Because the hotel is located in the heart of the new town, it provides easy access to good food. Two traffic lights away north on Jalan Yang Kalsom, past the big central police station, turn left and you'll come to the intersection where three famous names for Ipoh hor fun vie for your attention.
Ipoh also has an interesting old town where many pre-war buildings are left pretty much intact, so much so that Lee Ang chose to film Lust Caution here in the old town as old Hong Kong. Here in the heart of the old town, there's an iconic coffee shop that sells slurpily yummy Ipoh hor fun in the day. Cross the Kinta river and you'll come to what I think is the grandest building in Ipoh, the lovely St Michael's Institution with its soaring gables, graceful verandas and large fields. How I wish we had schools like this in Singapore - so much character, history and charm. Across from that is the old padang and with it, the quintessential club that comes with every 'padang' from KL to Singapore. In Ipoh's case, it is the Royal Ipoh Club. Round the corner, the FMS bar still stands. In the old days, planters would congregate here for their stengahs and some camaraderie on weekends. Today, it still functions as a bar and restaurant, albeit a bit faded around the edges and it is believed to be Malaysia's oldest functioning bar!
We also visited the old railway station, now converted to a hotel. While the facade looked like it was recently whitewashed, the interior looks disappointing. The ground floor has been partitioned off into sleazy small 'massage parlours'. Upstairs, a generous veranda fronts the building. The flooring and fixtures still look original, but the rooms are a real gloomy letdown - low ceilings, musty, cramped, dark with only one tiny window opening up to a grim view of half-abandoned corridors in the other wing. The bathroom retains much of the original fixtures, from the porcelain tubs right down to the flooring. I think the place is actually quite charming and its just a real pity that it is not better restored and maintained. Given the history, the architecture and the location, this place could really work as a lovely boutique hotel.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10. Excellent value!
Swiss Garden Golf Resort and Spa, Damai Laut
The last time we went to Pangkor, we could not get any rooms on the island, so we settled for a rundown place in Lumut which gave me a spooky night experience. This time, we thought we'd be better prepared and book a stay at the Swiss Garden. Lumut accomodation, by the way, is generally limited to very run-down places that are not really worth the money or the time. So we thought we'd pay a bit more and stay at a better place.
From the map given by the resort, Lumut looked deceptively near, so we thought it would be no problem commuting to Lumut if we had to. We thought wrong of course. From the turn-off on Route 5, the main road from Ipoh to Lumut, we followed signs to the Swiss Garden. It took us well over half an hour from Route 5 to the resort. So much so that we wondered if we were actually lost, muttering to ourselves, that the resort can't be that far! It took us past industrial plants, river mouths spanned by three bridges, and seemingly, further and further away from Lumut. Finally we drove down a narrow plantation road, flanked by mangroves and a pineapple and dragon fruit plantation before finally seeing the resort gateway. From the gate, it was another five minutes drive to the resort proper - passing the condo, the golf course, assorted bungalows etc. Geez the place is really really remote!
Because its so remote, most guests are really held captive there because it takes too long to go anywhere else. Under these circumstances, it was no surprise that everything cost a bomb in the hotel. The ferry ride to Pangkor was a whopping RM35 per adult, RM23 per kid. In contrast, the ride from Lumut was just RM10 per adult! Initially, our plan was to arrive early, park the bags at the hotel and take the hotel ferry across. Instead, because it was just so exorbitant, we decided to shelve our Pangkor plan for the next day instead and just spend the day at the resort.
So what to do at a resort? The hotel had a 'recreation centre' which claimed to organise treks etc. But when we checked with them, they said "no treks today because this is rainy season and there are leeches" then in the same breath, they added, "but tomorrow morning you can check with us and see, we may still do a small trek if you really want!" Huh? Got leech or no leech? Er, you mean the leeches disappear overnight? Hmm...
The resort had a beach, but the 'sand' was really loads of coral skeletons. The coarse sand was 'white' but dig deeper and you reach darker soil which made me wonder if this was really a natural beach or an artificial one. The water was not family-friendly because about 5 to 10m out, there is a steep drop-off so you'd really have to watch the smaller kids if they get into the water.
What fascinated me was the ikan bilis! Loads of ikan bilis swimming by me (unnerving at first!), and then beaching and killing themselves. The kids had a good time picking up and counting the dead ikan bilis - there were thousands. There were also free kayaks so KH and the older kids went kayaking.
The pool was nice with an infinity element. We had a lovely moment as a family, all 7 of us, swimming to the infinity wall, perching there to admire the pretty sunset over Pangkor island which we could see over the bay.
The hotel seemed quite full. Because we were basically quite stuck there, we had little choice when it came to food. The kids were happy to have pizza and TV in the room. So KH and I went looking for food in the various restaurants. The Chinese steamboat/noodle place was packed to the gills, so we headed for the main coffeehouse. KH wanted just an ala carte dish but they were not serving ala carte. No choice but to take the buffet which was RM40 per person!! The main dishes on the buffet were all hot and chilli-spicy, which posed a problem for Trin.
The room itself was comfortable but worn about the edges but this is a bit more forgiveable than the Zon because this is a resort and there is a more laidback atmosphere. Note though, that it is not as slick as the website or brochures would have you believe. However, the ick factor for me was a pungent stench of urine in the bathroom. The kids denied having any accidents in the bathroom. When I looked closer at the toilet bowl, I realised that there was a layer of yellow pee on the floor behind the toilet bowl - yeech!! I tried hosing down the place with water but no use, the smell remained.
The next day at breakfast, we were given a table in a corner that was seemingly infested with flies. You couldn't eat without waving or flapping something at those annoying bugs. There was also that strong antiseptic smell of Dettol! What is it with me and with smells this trip?? I keep sniffing out these really strong, awful smells and it really bothers me. The 'Dettol' smell was there in the hotel's public loos, and we checked - we were not sitting near a toilet - but the smell was still there. So I don't know, little things like this matter to me. Just gives me the icky feeling and made me doubt that the hotel's cleanliness standards are up to par.
Again, its the little things that count - coffee and tea in the breakfast buffet is neither served by the wait-staff nor are they prepared in glass pots and left on the heater on the counter. Rather, they have a hot-water dispenser and sachets where you DIY. I guess I am being nit-picky about this, but its about presentation I suppose and as with the Zon hotel in KL, the little details that are lacking really show how much heart the management puts into running a resort/hotel - are they genuinely out to provide good service and a memorable stay or do they see it as just a job, out to make a fast buck and then run the place with boredom and indifference? With the Swiss Garden and with the Zon in KL, looks like its the latter.
Overall rating: 4 out of 10. We would not come here again, nor would we recommend our family and friends to this place either. It is too remote, and the remoteness means we are held hostage at the resort to ridiculous prices. The cleanliness is suspect and the food quite blah. At RM230++ per night per room, er, this is not money well spent. If we ever do go to Pangkor again, we will just make it a day trip from Ipoh itself. Our stay at the tiny 2-star Ritz Garden was a lot more comfortable than at this overpriced 5-star resort!
Malaysia - hotel reviews
This trip, we moved around quite a bit and stayed at various places. These are too long for one post, so I am splitting them up according to cities and destinations.
Kuala Lumpur
Royale Bintang at The Curve, Damansara
This is a smallish hotel that caters to people on business and to shoppers. We took a Family Suite at RM483 a night. Space-wise, its a little small for a suite and more like two connecting rooms that came with a seating area. Our balcony looked out onto Ikano Power-station which was right across the road. The Suite came with a King-sized bed and two twin beds, one bathroom which was connected to both rooms. Keeping the children happy was their own flat-screen in one room and another in the master bedroom. Astro had the works - Disney channel, Discovery, HBO, NHK etc. I liked the NHK channel since anything about Japan fascinates me at the moment. Bathroom was a good size with a bathtub and a separate shower stall.
Being a new hotel, it was quite luxe in its fittings, all dark wood and cream. We generally felt really comfortable there. Breakfast the next morning was also decent in terms of the spread.
The location, being right in the heart of shopping heaven in Damansara, was also a joy. We spent time in Ikano Power station (Ikea is ever the draw, even if you're not looking to buy furniture and even though everything pretty much looks the same as in Singapore) and in The Curve. Being just a stone's throw away from the hotel, we caught a movie at the new Cineleisure complex too. Basically if you're looking for nothing more than retail therapy, the Royale Bintang makes a good pit-stop.
Getting to the heart of KL City would be a problem if you did not have a car, or if you had a car but didn't know the confusing curves of the KL highway system. For us, this was not the case since we were happy to stay here just for retail therapy and didn't fancy moving to KL City. Getting in from the NS Highway was easy-peasy - just take the Federal Highway, look out for signs to Damansara and the new toll Sprint Highway. Follow signage to TTDI and you're set. Can be hair-raising if you're trying this for the first time since the turn-offs could be confusing, but with a good map (pick up from most NS Highway rest-stops), an open mind and a willingness or patience to do detours, u-turns and generally getting lost, you'll be fine.
While we had no problem getting there, getting out to get to Ipoh on the northern end of the NS Highway was difficult. Yes, even we, who have been to KL many, many times, still end up getting lost in traffic. We ended up driving for about an hour in the wrong direction, having taken the Damansara Puchong Highway - big mistake. Would be easier to take the Penchala Link to Mont Kiara and then off to Sungei Buloh which would have taken all of 15min tops. So near and yet so far. In the end, we got back on the Federal Highway, took the Sprint Highway and followed signs north to Ipoh.
Overall rating: I'd say 7.5 out of 10 points
The Zon Hotel
Okay, I've got lots to say about this place. And none of it good! We stayed here on the return leg of our trip, coming back from the northern end of Malaysia.
I'd bought a 3D2N package for a two-bedroom suite at a travel fair in Singapore at RM680. I guess warning bells should have rung loudly when a week after my purchase, no one from the hotel had contacted me to confirm my booking. This was in October. It was only in late November, near our departure that I thought I'd better confirm the booking. They promptly replied and confirmed that I had paid 50% and my booking was confirmed.
The night we arrived, we arrived a bit late - around 8pm. The hotel was located quite centrally, on Jalan Ampang, couple of blocks away from KLCC. We had no difficulty finding it, except we took the 'scenic' route in from Jalan Ipoh which left us wondering for a while if we were lost. Spotting the twin towers lighting like a beacon in the night told us we were not, just taking the long way in.
The hotel lobby looked small, but decent enough, chandeliers, marble everywhere etc. But warning bells started to tinkle when we walked towards our room. Wooden panelling looked worn and in the lift, which was small, the wooden panels were chipped, dented and scratched. The lift opened to a teeny lobby. The marble vanished and the ceramic floors began.
The minute we opened the door, the smell hit us. Musty like an old cupboard. My mood became more grim as I walked through the 'suite'. The place looked like it had not been upgraded in at least 15 years. Dated, tired furniture, wooden wardrobe fixtures with broken slats that looked like something from the 80s. Hey, I like retro, but this is not what I expected from a hotel like this in KL. KH, sitting on the tatty fabric armchair, developed a rash very quickly. The beds had no comforters, just thin sheets pulled over a blanket. The TV in the main sitting area had poor reception, fuzzy images, but the one in the bedroom was worse - it was a teensy 14-inch which had clearly seen better days. I don't know when was the last time I had seen one of these tiny TVs in a hotel room.
I was NOT a happy camper. Called the reception and the girl was all flustered, passing the phone to a Mr Shah. I told them what I thought of the room and that this was not value for money. Had I not paid a 50% deposit, we would have just walked out.
To his credit, Mr Shah seemed very helpful. He apologised and offered to show us a better room - a 'show room' as he put it. KH and I walked over to have a look. It was similar to the one we had - largely the same fixtures and furnishing, but it was a tad better. It was late, the kids were hungry and we'd paid the 50%, so we grudgingly took it. The hotel gave us an extra bed gratis. After we had dinner, settled in, I took a shower and before I had even lathered any soap on, the swirl of water at my feet already had soapy residue! Ugh, where did this come from? Had the tub not been washed since the last occupant? Or was the washing incompletely rinsed? Either way, I made short work of the shower and told everyone - showers only and no tub use please.
At breakfast, the spread was good. But the standards of cleanliness left a great deal to be desired. We took two tables which were previously occupied. The waiter proceeded to wipe down the placemats (which incidentally were made of PAPER and not plastic), wipe the table top and then wanted to reuse the paper placemats. Ugh! Even McDonalds' paper tray mats are discarded and here we're talking about a 4 star hotel! I stopped him and said no, thank you, we'd go without the placemats. He didn't look pleased. Then he proceeded to lay the table. One of the table had an unused setting. The waiter took away the unclean, used cutlery, but wanted to re-use the other unused table cutlery for us. Again, I said no, fresh cutlery please and the guy did not look happy. Breakfast the next morning (yes we stayed another night!) was not much better - they wanted to place us right at the back near the bar counter because it was the only large table left. But the area was so dark and dimly lit you could hardly see your food. I had to ask them to join two smaller tables near the front. They did not look pleased. But argh, good grief, where was the proactive service?! This is not rocket science after all.
Am I being very uber-critical? I think this experience has left me thinking hard about service standards. I believe its the little things that count. The maintenance that showed if your panels are well-maintained, not chipped, dented etc, the standards of cleanliness in how you maintain the rooms, right down to setting the tables for your customers, being helpful and proactive in giving your customers what is important to them, not what is easiest to you, the service provider. When the little things are lacking, the client or customer just perceives one thing - that they don't matter.
When it came to checking out, another glitch. This time, they wanted to charge us for the full amount despite us producing receipts and credit card transaction slips that say we paid half. The attitudes at reception were hostile, wary and not very friendly. They finally told us that when we paid half at the fair in Singapore, the card transaction was declined. We did not know it then because they had used the old-fashioned slide and swipe methods to get the card imprint. KH had to call his bank in Singapore to double-check if this was true etc and that no charges were claimed by the hotel earlier. It was inexplicable since the card we used had no other problems getting through at other hotels and other places.
The whole experience left me uneasy and uncomfortable. Why didn't they email us to let us know the card was declined and hence the 50% deposit was not paid? Why did the marketing people who transacted that sale not inform us when I emailed them to confirm my booking? And had we known of this, we would never have stayed even that first night.
What I took away from the Zon Hotel was that this was a fading hotel trying to make a fast buck. Their brochures showed bright, sparkling new rooms. The reality is a far cry. Its sheer misrepresentation. I felt deceived and I said so to Mr Shah the night before. This is a pity because this hotel has a great location. We just had to cross the road to access the KLCC park, Aquaria, and KLCC itself, which was about a 10min walk away. The KL subway was almost right at the doorstep too. So the location is fantastic. Pity the rooms look like a time warped, musty, faded 80s hotel room and the standards - in cleanliness, maintenance etc are really lacking. All they needed was a facelift, a re-training of their staff and they could do really well.
So overall rating for this hotel is: 3.5 out of 10. Any points given is really due more to location of the hotel and to service recovery on the first night when they offered the extra bed. Everything else really went to the dogs.
Kuala Lumpur
Royale Bintang at The Curve, Damansara
This is a smallish hotel that caters to people on business and to shoppers. We took a Family Suite at RM483 a night. Space-wise, its a little small for a suite and more like two connecting rooms that came with a seating area. Our balcony looked out onto Ikano Power-station which was right across the road. The Suite came with a King-sized bed and two twin beds, one bathroom which was connected to both rooms. Keeping the children happy was their own flat-screen in one room and another in the master bedroom. Astro had the works - Disney channel, Discovery, HBO, NHK etc. I liked the NHK channel since anything about Japan fascinates me at the moment. Bathroom was a good size with a bathtub and a separate shower stall.
Being a new hotel, it was quite luxe in its fittings, all dark wood and cream. We generally felt really comfortable there. Breakfast the next morning was also decent in terms of the spread.
The location, being right in the heart of shopping heaven in Damansara, was also a joy. We spent time in Ikano Power station (Ikea is ever the draw, even if you're not looking to buy furniture and even though everything pretty much looks the same as in Singapore) and in The Curve. Being just a stone's throw away from the hotel, we caught a movie at the new Cineleisure complex too. Basically if you're looking for nothing more than retail therapy, the Royale Bintang makes a good pit-stop.
Getting to the heart of KL City would be a problem if you did not have a car, or if you had a car but didn't know the confusing curves of the KL highway system. For us, this was not the case since we were happy to stay here just for retail therapy and didn't fancy moving to KL City. Getting in from the NS Highway was easy-peasy - just take the Federal Highway, look out for signs to Damansara and the new toll Sprint Highway. Follow signage to TTDI and you're set. Can be hair-raising if you're trying this for the first time since the turn-offs could be confusing, but with a good map (pick up from most NS Highway rest-stops), an open mind and a willingness or patience to do detours, u-turns and generally getting lost, you'll be fine.
While we had no problem getting there, getting out to get to Ipoh on the northern end of the NS Highway was difficult. Yes, even we, who have been to KL many, many times, still end up getting lost in traffic. We ended up driving for about an hour in the wrong direction, having taken the Damansara Puchong Highway - big mistake. Would be easier to take the Penchala Link to Mont Kiara and then off to Sungei Buloh which would have taken all of 15min tops. So near and yet so far. In the end, we got back on the Federal Highway, took the Sprint Highway and followed signs north to Ipoh.
Overall rating: I'd say 7.5 out of 10 points
The Zon Hotel
Okay, I've got lots to say about this place. And none of it good! We stayed here on the return leg of our trip, coming back from the northern end of Malaysia.
I'd bought a 3D2N package for a two-bedroom suite at a travel fair in Singapore at RM680. I guess warning bells should have rung loudly when a week after my purchase, no one from the hotel had contacted me to confirm my booking. This was in October. It was only in late November, near our departure that I thought I'd better confirm the booking. They promptly replied and confirmed that I had paid 50% and my booking was confirmed.
The night we arrived, we arrived a bit late - around 8pm. The hotel was located quite centrally, on Jalan Ampang, couple of blocks away from KLCC. We had no difficulty finding it, except we took the 'scenic' route in from Jalan Ipoh which left us wondering for a while if we were lost. Spotting the twin towers lighting like a beacon in the night told us we were not, just taking the long way in.
The hotel lobby looked small, but decent enough, chandeliers, marble everywhere etc. But warning bells started to tinkle when we walked towards our room. Wooden panelling looked worn and in the lift, which was small, the wooden panels were chipped, dented and scratched. The lift opened to a teeny lobby. The marble vanished and the ceramic floors began.
The minute we opened the door, the smell hit us. Musty like an old cupboard. My mood became more grim as I walked through the 'suite'. The place looked like it had not been upgraded in at least 15 years. Dated, tired furniture, wooden wardrobe fixtures with broken slats that looked like something from the 80s. Hey, I like retro, but this is not what I expected from a hotel like this in KL. KH, sitting on the tatty fabric armchair, developed a rash very quickly. The beds had no comforters, just thin sheets pulled over a blanket. The TV in the main sitting area had poor reception, fuzzy images, but the one in the bedroom was worse - it was a teensy 14-inch which had clearly seen better days. I don't know when was the last time I had seen one of these tiny TVs in a hotel room.
I was NOT a happy camper. Called the reception and the girl was all flustered, passing the phone to a Mr Shah. I told them what I thought of the room and that this was not value for money. Had I not paid a 50% deposit, we would have just walked out.
To his credit, Mr Shah seemed very helpful. He apologised and offered to show us a better room - a 'show room' as he put it. KH and I walked over to have a look. It was similar to the one we had - largely the same fixtures and furnishing, but it was a tad better. It was late, the kids were hungry and we'd paid the 50%, so we grudgingly took it. The hotel gave us an extra bed gratis. After we had dinner, settled in, I took a shower and before I had even lathered any soap on, the swirl of water at my feet already had soapy residue! Ugh, where did this come from? Had the tub not been washed since the last occupant? Or was the washing incompletely rinsed? Either way, I made short work of the shower and told everyone - showers only and no tub use please.
At breakfast, the spread was good. But the standards of cleanliness left a great deal to be desired. We took two tables which were previously occupied. The waiter proceeded to wipe down the placemats (which incidentally were made of PAPER and not plastic), wipe the table top and then wanted to reuse the paper placemats. Ugh! Even McDonalds' paper tray mats are discarded and here we're talking about a 4 star hotel! I stopped him and said no, thank you, we'd go without the placemats. He didn't look pleased. Then he proceeded to lay the table. One of the table had an unused setting. The waiter took away the unclean, used cutlery, but wanted to re-use the other unused table cutlery for us. Again, I said no, fresh cutlery please and the guy did not look happy. Breakfast the next morning (yes we stayed another night!) was not much better - they wanted to place us right at the back near the bar counter because it was the only large table left. But the area was so dark and dimly lit you could hardly see your food. I had to ask them to join two smaller tables near the front. They did not look pleased. But argh, good grief, where was the proactive service?! This is not rocket science after all.
Am I being very uber-critical? I think this experience has left me thinking hard about service standards. I believe its the little things that count. The maintenance that showed if your panels are well-maintained, not chipped, dented etc, the standards of cleanliness in how you maintain the rooms, right down to setting the tables for your customers, being helpful and proactive in giving your customers what is important to them, not what is easiest to you, the service provider. When the little things are lacking, the client or customer just perceives one thing - that they don't matter.
When it came to checking out, another glitch. This time, they wanted to charge us for the full amount despite us producing receipts and credit card transaction slips that say we paid half. The attitudes at reception were hostile, wary and not very friendly. They finally told us that when we paid half at the fair in Singapore, the card transaction was declined. We did not know it then because they had used the old-fashioned slide and swipe methods to get the card imprint. KH had to call his bank in Singapore to double-check if this was true etc and that no charges were claimed by the hotel earlier. It was inexplicable since the card we used had no other problems getting through at other hotels and other places.
The whole experience left me uneasy and uncomfortable. Why didn't they email us to let us know the card was declined and hence the 50% deposit was not paid? Why did the marketing people who transacted that sale not inform us when I emailed them to confirm my booking? And had we known of this, we would never have stayed even that first night.
What I took away from the Zon Hotel was that this was a fading hotel trying to make a fast buck. Their brochures showed bright, sparkling new rooms. The reality is a far cry. Its sheer misrepresentation. I felt deceived and I said so to Mr Shah the night before. This is a pity because this hotel has a great location. We just had to cross the road to access the KLCC park, Aquaria, and KLCC itself, which was about a 10min walk away. The KL subway was almost right at the doorstep too. So the location is fantastic. Pity the rooms look like a time warped, musty, faded 80s hotel room and the standards - in cleanliness, maintenance etc are really lacking. All they needed was a facelift, a re-training of their staff and they could do really well.
So overall rating for this hotel is: 3.5 out of 10. Any points given is really due more to location of the hotel and to service recovery on the first night when they offered the extra bed. Everything else really went to the dogs.
The road less travelled is more fun!
What do people get out of travelling?
See the world, meet people, make friends, have good sex, find love, learn something new, buy something you don't need, buy something you DO need. I guess for me, its all of the above. But more importantly its a chance to get out of my own skin, to be in a place which is different, to see, touch, do what I don't usually do or see.
And to do that, I do like either visiting a place that is very different (one day, I will visit Africa!) or peek into a culture that is unfathomable and intriguing (Japan), or travel in a different way (train as opposed to flight).
Fundamentally, it means I can never travel in a herd. I feel extremely chafed and constrained just thinking about it! When I see groups herded by disinterested tour guides, or hear stories about the kings' ransom in tips these tourists have to pay their guides, I shudder. And I wonder if these tourists really get to see the heart of the places they visit?
Case in point - Venice. By day, the place is packed to the gills with pigeons and assorted tour groups. Everyone congregates in St Marks Square. They see the Grand Canal, they see St Mark's Basilica, they see the Doges Palace and maybe they walk a bit and see the Rialto Bridge.
Then they all pile into their tour buses and go home. But what do they miss?
They miss the quiet snaking lanes that lie far from St Marks. They miss walking on the silent bridges that criss cross the city. They miss the stumbling upon an ancient stone church in a tiny piazza where boys play football while black-dressed mamas go and pray. They miss the transformation of St Marks Square into a huge ballroom by night as the orchestras of the famed cafes take turns to play, warm light streaming from the restaurants onto the great dance floor. They miss sitting down and watching the moors strike the clock while nursing a gelato. And gondolas swaying with the tide at night look very different. Venice by night is pure magic. Tourists miss all this. Travellers don't. Travellers who stay on the island, travel by train or car, are free to wander the narrow streets, saunter beneath lines of laundry in places where Venetians live and tourists do not venture.
I've always travelled alone, independently and each time, my experiences tell me this is the right way to travel. From the first time I took a plane on my own to visit my aunt in Melbourne, I was hooked. I was on my own and the exhilaration of being "on my own" was mind-blowing.
In contrast, my uncle once told me that he hates getting lost, hates the hassle of finding his way around, "negotiating with the locals" and grappling with the language, struggling with backpacks and luggage etc. Hence he would just prefer to take a tour or hire a guide, stay in a posh hotel, have his meals catered, travel in airconditioned limousine comfort. His guide brings him to point A and B and so on, and if he didn't like what he saw, he would just tell the guide to bring him somewhere else. No offence, but I think him would get more kicks out of a National Geographic documentary on TV and save his money that way.
This uncle was the same one who gave me a blank look when I enthused about the culture, the dichotomy of the Japanese personality etc as I tried to sell him on travelling in Japan. His eyes glazed over and when I finished, he asked: So, what is there to SEE?
Sigh.
But for me, and I hope, for my kids, I hope that they would love travelling. There are no extremes, but I think if you travel solo, without a group tour, you'd be able to experience so much more. Touring in a herd tends to insulate because one tends to seek comfort in the familiar, in the tried and true, and stick to the group. But travelling on your own brings up a whole lot of new opportunities and experiences.
Yeah its no fun getting lost when you're really lost and its getting dark and you're tired, hungry and cranky. But the experience will be worth it.
For instance, I will never forget travelling in Tasmania, arriving on a cold, rainy night in Hobart with no accomodation, a scenario worthy of great horror stories. KH and I ended up with a flat in the historic district of Battery Point just by knocking on doors. Little did we expect that flat to be seriously haunted! Our stay there was hair-raising but so memorable!
In a similar scenario on the Big Island of Hawaii - cold, wet, misty and drizzly, no prior accomodation bookings and we ended up following a fern-lined road in the mist to a wooden farmhouse which later turned out to be more than 100 years old. We stood at the door knocking, shivering and hoping for accomodation and who should open the door but Santa Claus himself! Or his twin brother! The man was white-bearded, glasses perched on his nose, twinkly blue eyes and he had an Akita dog the size of a small horse. They were such a welcome sight! We got a room in his attic, and the chance to bathe in the first cedarwood tub we ever saw. Again, memorable. But we'd never have known if we never tried, if we'd never travelled independently.
There will be adventures galore like this, and this is all part of the fun, the excitement of travelling. In my life, I hope I will never be a tourist, but always a traveller. I hope my children will be the same. Life can only be richer this way. The road less travelled may seem rougher, with few assurances and less of the creature comforts, but it will almost always be richer in the long run.
See the world, meet people, make friends, have good sex, find love, learn something new, buy something you don't need, buy something you DO need. I guess for me, its all of the above. But more importantly its a chance to get out of my own skin, to be in a place which is different, to see, touch, do what I don't usually do or see.
And to do that, I do like either visiting a place that is very different (one day, I will visit Africa!) or peek into a culture that is unfathomable and intriguing (Japan), or travel in a different way (train as opposed to flight).
Fundamentally, it means I can never travel in a herd. I feel extremely chafed and constrained just thinking about it! When I see groups herded by disinterested tour guides, or hear stories about the kings' ransom in tips these tourists have to pay their guides, I shudder. And I wonder if these tourists really get to see the heart of the places they visit?
Case in point - Venice. By day, the place is packed to the gills with pigeons and assorted tour groups. Everyone congregates in St Marks Square. They see the Grand Canal, they see St Mark's Basilica, they see the Doges Palace and maybe they walk a bit and see the Rialto Bridge.
Then they all pile into their tour buses and go home. But what do they miss?
They miss the quiet snaking lanes that lie far from St Marks. They miss walking on the silent bridges that criss cross the city. They miss the stumbling upon an ancient stone church in a tiny piazza where boys play football while black-dressed mamas go and pray. They miss the transformation of St Marks Square into a huge ballroom by night as the orchestras of the famed cafes take turns to play, warm light streaming from the restaurants onto the great dance floor. They miss sitting down and watching the moors strike the clock while nursing a gelato. And gondolas swaying with the tide at night look very different. Venice by night is pure magic. Tourists miss all this. Travellers don't. Travellers who stay on the island, travel by train or car, are free to wander the narrow streets, saunter beneath lines of laundry in places where Venetians live and tourists do not venture.
I've always travelled alone, independently and each time, my experiences tell me this is the right way to travel. From the first time I took a plane on my own to visit my aunt in Melbourne, I was hooked. I was on my own and the exhilaration of being "on my own" was mind-blowing.
In contrast, my uncle once told me that he hates getting lost, hates the hassle of finding his way around, "negotiating with the locals" and grappling with the language, struggling with backpacks and luggage etc. Hence he would just prefer to take a tour or hire a guide, stay in a posh hotel, have his meals catered, travel in airconditioned limousine comfort. His guide brings him to point A and B and so on, and if he didn't like what he saw, he would just tell the guide to bring him somewhere else. No offence, but I think him would get more kicks out of a National Geographic documentary on TV and save his money that way.
This uncle was the same one who gave me a blank look when I enthused about the culture, the dichotomy of the Japanese personality etc as I tried to sell him on travelling in Japan. His eyes glazed over and when I finished, he asked: So, what is there to SEE?
Sigh.
But for me, and I hope, for my kids, I hope that they would love travelling. There are no extremes, but I think if you travel solo, without a group tour, you'd be able to experience so much more. Touring in a herd tends to insulate because one tends to seek comfort in the familiar, in the tried and true, and stick to the group. But travelling on your own brings up a whole lot of new opportunities and experiences.
Yeah its no fun getting lost when you're really lost and its getting dark and you're tired, hungry and cranky. But the experience will be worth it.
For instance, I will never forget travelling in Tasmania, arriving on a cold, rainy night in Hobart with no accomodation, a scenario worthy of great horror stories. KH and I ended up with a flat in the historic district of Battery Point just by knocking on doors. Little did we expect that flat to be seriously haunted! Our stay there was hair-raising but so memorable!
In a similar scenario on the Big Island of Hawaii - cold, wet, misty and drizzly, no prior accomodation bookings and we ended up following a fern-lined road in the mist to a wooden farmhouse which later turned out to be more than 100 years old. We stood at the door knocking, shivering and hoping for accomodation and who should open the door but Santa Claus himself! Or his twin brother! The man was white-bearded, glasses perched on his nose, twinkly blue eyes and he had an Akita dog the size of a small horse. They were such a welcome sight! We got a room in his attic, and the chance to bathe in the first cedarwood tub we ever saw. Again, memorable. But we'd never have known if we never tried, if we'd never travelled independently.
There will be adventures galore like this, and this is all part of the fun, the excitement of travelling. In my life, I hope I will never be a tourist, but always a traveller. I hope my children will be the same. Life can only be richer this way. The road less travelled may seem rougher, with few assurances and less of the creature comforts, but it will almost always be richer in the long run.
Rail Odyssey to Thailand
Looks like our Great Rail Odyssey to Thailand is on!
I am now planning our trip up to Bangkok by train, visiting Krabi en route. When I tell people we want to do this, the inevitable reaction is one of sceptism mixed with distaste and horror:
1) Novelty. We've never done this sort of long haul trip by train that requires an overnight stay on a train, so we thought it would be fun to try. At least, even if it proved to be the travel experience from hell, it would be memorable!
2) Malaysia fatigue. We have not covered every inch of the Malayan Peninsula, but enough of the main drag to have some fatigue setting in. It would be nice to go beyond the KL, Malacca, Ipoh, Penang circuit for once.
3) Slow travel is in! It is easier to get on a plane and be at the destination you choose within a few hours instead of days. But while flying gets you from point A to point B in a blink, you do miss a great deal of the landscape below. Sometimes the slowness of the travel gives you space to think. When the palm oil plantations all start to merge into one green blur, maybe thats the time to read a book, write a good travel journal etc. Though how I am going to do that with 5 restless kids, I don't know!
4) Save the earth! Travelling by train leaves a smaller carbon footprint.
5) Meet people. Somehow trains make it easier to talk and break the ice. KH once yakked non-stop to a new-found Dutch friend when we were on the overnight from Amsterdam to Paris. Poor guy never knew what hit him.
6) Loads cheaper. When you have a large family but still want to see the world, fuel surcharges can really be a spanner in the works. For all of us travelling, even on budget flights, the fuel surcharges and taxes and other extras that pad up an airline's bottom line really end up costing us many times more than just the airfare alone. And these days, even budget airlines are not really that 'budget' anymore - when you consider the extra like 'extra luggage allowance' or 'pay x amount and be the first to board', or paying for that packet of cold nasi lemak in the sky, all this does not make it as value-added as it may have seemed.
7) More leg space. At least on a train, one can walk up and down a carriage, or up and down the whole length of the train! One can also visit the restaurant car etc. But on a plane, particularly budget flights, you're really crammed knee to chin in a narrow seats made for size 00 women!
Having said all this, I am prepared to take this trip with an open mind. I will be prepared for kids who get cranky after 2 hours into an 18-hour journey, I will be prepared to do loo gym (ie the acrobatic feats I usually perform when confronted with wet, slimy and smelly toilets!), I will be prepared for suspect train food (though how this can compete with bad airline food I don't know!).
Just bring it on!
I am now planning our trip up to Bangkok by train, visiting Krabi en route. When I tell people we want to do this, the inevitable reaction is one of sceptism mixed with distaste and horror:
- Are you out of your minds?
- Why take the train? Just fly!
- Are you sure the kids can take the train ride?
- With 5 kids????
1) Novelty. We've never done this sort of long haul trip by train that requires an overnight stay on a train, so we thought it would be fun to try. At least, even if it proved to be the travel experience from hell, it would be memorable!
2) Malaysia fatigue. We have not covered every inch of the Malayan Peninsula, but enough of the main drag to have some fatigue setting in. It would be nice to go beyond the KL, Malacca, Ipoh, Penang circuit for once.
3) Slow travel is in! It is easier to get on a plane and be at the destination you choose within a few hours instead of days. But while flying gets you from point A to point B in a blink, you do miss a great deal of the landscape below. Sometimes the slowness of the travel gives you space to think. When the palm oil plantations all start to merge into one green blur, maybe thats the time to read a book, write a good travel journal etc. Though how I am going to do that with 5 restless kids, I don't know!
4) Save the earth! Travelling by train leaves a smaller carbon footprint.
5) Meet people. Somehow trains make it easier to talk and break the ice. KH once yakked non-stop to a new-found Dutch friend when we were on the overnight from Amsterdam to Paris. Poor guy never knew what hit him.
6) Loads cheaper. When you have a large family but still want to see the world, fuel surcharges can really be a spanner in the works. For all of us travelling, even on budget flights, the fuel surcharges and taxes and other extras that pad up an airline's bottom line really end up costing us many times more than just the airfare alone. And these days, even budget airlines are not really that 'budget' anymore - when you consider the extra like 'extra luggage allowance' or 'pay x amount and be the first to board', or paying for that packet of cold nasi lemak in the sky, all this does not make it as value-added as it may have seemed.
7) More leg space. At least on a train, one can walk up and down a carriage, or up and down the whole length of the train! One can also visit the restaurant car etc. But on a plane, particularly budget flights, you're really crammed knee to chin in a narrow seats made for size 00 women!
Having said all this, I am prepared to take this trip with an open mind. I will be prepared for kids who get cranky after 2 hours into an 18-hour journey, I will be prepared to do loo gym (ie the acrobatic feats I usually perform when confronted with wet, slimy and smelly toilets!), I will be prepared for suspect train food (though how this can compete with bad airline food I don't know!).
Just bring it on!
Pulau Besar, Malacca
It was on the spur of the moment that we decided to just pack our bags and head for a weekend north, even though we'd just returned from our holiday there barely two weeks ago.
So on Friday the 13th night, we plonked all 5 kids in the car, strapped them down and off we went again across the Causeway to Malaysia.
Reached the condo in Tanjong Kling late at night - around 11pm, but decided to have a late supper anyway. The kids, who mostly slept on the way up, were now fresh and wide awake and ready for their roast chicken and mee goreng. Yummy stuff in a little makeshift shack structure just outside the condo facing the beach. Then it was back to the condo where the kids ran on all cylinders until 2am before conking off, way after KH and I did.
The next morning we headed for the old Bentona Hotel on the old road to Muar, on the outskirts of Malacca town where we indulged in delicious and cheap dimsum (okay, after converting prices from ringgit to SGD). We'd been coming here practically every visit to Malacca for the past 10 years. A visit to Malacca without dim sum at Bentona is practically unthinkable.
Recently they changed management. It used to be called Yum Yum Restaurant - and for good reason too! - but now its gone something like Ocean-something-or-other). The old red clothed tables were the same, but we noticed the variety of dimsum became a lot larger (good change!) and they also changed the toilet from bowl to squat!! (ugh - bad change!). Prices also went up a bit but I guess these days, prices are heading north everywhere you look and this should be no exception. As usual the old favourites, like the chee cheong fun and the lor mai kai, were good, so were the fried carrot cake, the tiny delicate pieces of steamed fishmeat with assorted toppings and so on. It cost our family of 7 a grand total of RM70 (SGD$29.60) - a similar meal like this at Red Star would easily have gone past SGD$70!
We packed some charsiew bao for our next excursion - the much planned-for, anticipated trip to Pulau Besar which always never seemed to materialise! But this time, we were determined. So armed with some food, a huge water bottle of water, our swim things, floats, we headed for the Anjung jetty, less than an hour away from the city.
The ferry ride cost about RM12 per adult and half price for kids I think and we even had to buy baby Trin a ticket! You would think that having a ticket entitled you to a seat, and the purpose of having tickets is to prevent any over-crowding on board right? Wrong. Gala Marines Sdn Bhd which ran the ferry service to Besar, packed us all in like sardines. We had seats, yes, but the boat was soon packed to the gills with passengers - many standing, sharing seats, perched outside etc. It was very clearly overloaded and both KH and I were worried, having heard stories about ferries which capsized thanks to overloading. It was not safe and at one point, I was making mental notes about where the life jackets were and being thankful that at least three of the kids could swim/tread water if anything happened.
Luckily though the 15min ride was uneventful albeit a bit bumpy and we reached P Besar without incident. From the jetty, it looked really promising - a slightly rocky shoreline on the left of the island with a nice rolling surf, treelined hills sloping upwards from the jetty, a pretty though empty beach on the right and waters which looked (I looked really hard though!) a teensy bit bluer-greener than the mainland.
We headed to the left of the jetty, not sure where to go but just hoping to find a decent beach. We ended up on a strip of sand which disappointingly looked a bit grimy. It was low tide - so much for swimming! - so the waves were breaking far into the horizon. You could see the flotsam of the usual rubbish - plastic bottles, bits of styrofoam, plastic wrappers etc. Made me shake my head - why can't people just take care of a lovely beach instead of leaving their trash everywhere??
The foreshore also looked muddy and rocky and I was worried about stonefish but KH and the kids didn't care. The kids in fact had run down to the murk and picked up a shell they were enthusing over. Poor hermit crab must have been bewildered to be plucked from his peaceful suntan and jostled over by large hands and loud children!
We set up the picnic mat under a tree in a shady spot. Then the kids slathered on sunscreen and headed out to the far horizon about 100m away while I sat there with Trin. It was not part of the plan to sit there and be part of the beach scene but Trin was very very grumpy after falling and scraping her knee so she was alternately crying, alternately complaining in her baby language. She didn't even want to play with the sand and so we were stuck.
By 2pm, the tide had come in and the younger kids could bob about in their tiny floats. Trin decided to be less of a grump and explore the sea/sand. We asked a shopkeeper nearby about other beaches and he pointed us over the hill, saying in excellent English: Go past the golf course, or cut through it, through a bit of jungle, down the slope and you'll see it. About 10min walk.
KH went off to explore that while we hung around making sandcastles, splashing in the shallows. He came back half an hour later and said briefly: Very small beach, but MUCH cleaner. Got to go through some jungle and certainly not a 10min walk. With kids, maybe more like 20min from here, so about 30min walk from the jetty. Got an angmoh couple there and no one else. The beach incline is also steeper - got to watch the kids more closely there.
He was clearly interested enough to go back, but not this visit. It was 3pm and time for us to make tracks. The ferry would leave at 3.30pm. It was 3.15 and we were 20min walk away from the jetty. KH picked up Trin and walked ahead. The eldest two dawdled behind - way behind. We had to stop and yell for them to hurry several times. Right at the end, huffing and puffing, I, yes yours truly, had to do something I had not done in years - RUN! So there I was huffing and pounding the cement of the jetty with heavy steps. The two older kids ran in behind me. We made it though. All hot, tired, sweaty and salty.
We drove back to the condo and hit the showers. Then it was out to the city for dinner with mum, dad, Paul, KY his girlfriend and another steamy humid walk with crowds at Jonker Street. While the rest went for drinks at their favourite Jonker haunt - the Geographer's Cafe, KH and I and the younger kids went back for an early night.
So that was our visit to Pulau Besar - not the cleanest nor most idyllic of beaches, in fact we did laugh about our beach in front of the condo being as good as the one on Besar if not better - but I think the island is worth exploring and I think we will go back. Perhaps next time we will check out the other beach that KH saw or head towards the right of the jetty where I saw some untouched looking beaches as the ferry pulled away.
So on Friday the 13th night, we plonked all 5 kids in the car, strapped them down and off we went again across the Causeway to Malaysia.
Reached the condo in Tanjong Kling late at night - around 11pm, but decided to have a late supper anyway. The kids, who mostly slept on the way up, were now fresh and wide awake and ready for their roast chicken and mee goreng. Yummy stuff in a little makeshift shack structure just outside the condo facing the beach. Then it was back to the condo where the kids ran on all cylinders until 2am before conking off, way after KH and I did.
The next morning we headed for the old Bentona Hotel on the old road to Muar, on the outskirts of Malacca town where we indulged in delicious and cheap dimsum (okay, after converting prices from ringgit to SGD). We'd been coming here practically every visit to Malacca for the past 10 years. A visit to Malacca without dim sum at Bentona is practically unthinkable.
Recently they changed management. It used to be called Yum Yum Restaurant - and for good reason too! - but now its gone something like Ocean-something-or-other). The old red clothed tables were the same, but we noticed the variety of dimsum became a lot larger (good change!) and they also changed the toilet from bowl to squat!! (ugh - bad change!). Prices also went up a bit but I guess these days, prices are heading north everywhere you look and this should be no exception. As usual the old favourites, like the chee cheong fun and the lor mai kai, were good, so were the fried carrot cake, the tiny delicate pieces of steamed fishmeat with assorted toppings and so on. It cost our family of 7 a grand total of RM70 (SGD$29.60) - a similar meal like this at Red Star would easily have gone past SGD$70!
We packed some charsiew bao for our next excursion - the much planned-for, anticipated trip to Pulau Besar which always never seemed to materialise! But this time, we were determined. So armed with some food, a huge water bottle of water, our swim things, floats, we headed for the Anjung jetty, less than an hour away from the city.
The ferry ride cost about RM12 per adult and half price for kids I think and we even had to buy baby Trin a ticket! You would think that having a ticket entitled you to a seat, and the purpose of having tickets is to prevent any over-crowding on board right? Wrong. Gala Marines Sdn Bhd which ran the ferry service to Besar, packed us all in like sardines. We had seats, yes, but the boat was soon packed to the gills with passengers - many standing, sharing seats, perched outside etc. It was very clearly overloaded and both KH and I were worried, having heard stories about ferries which capsized thanks to overloading. It was not safe and at one point, I was making mental notes about where the life jackets were and being thankful that at least three of the kids could swim/tread water if anything happened.
Luckily though the 15min ride was uneventful albeit a bit bumpy and we reached P Besar without incident. From the jetty, it looked really promising - a slightly rocky shoreline on the left of the island with a nice rolling surf, treelined hills sloping upwards from the jetty, a pretty though empty beach on the right and waters which looked (I looked really hard though!) a teensy bit bluer-greener than the mainland.
We headed to the left of the jetty, not sure where to go but just hoping to find a decent beach. We ended up on a strip of sand which disappointingly looked a bit grimy. It was low tide - so much for swimming! - so the waves were breaking far into the horizon. You could see the flotsam of the usual rubbish - plastic bottles, bits of styrofoam, plastic wrappers etc. Made me shake my head - why can't people just take care of a lovely beach instead of leaving their trash everywhere??
The foreshore also looked muddy and rocky and I was worried about stonefish but KH and the kids didn't care. The kids in fact had run down to the murk and picked up a shell they were enthusing over. Poor hermit crab must have been bewildered to be plucked from his peaceful suntan and jostled over by large hands and loud children!
We set up the picnic mat under a tree in a shady spot. Then the kids slathered on sunscreen and headed out to the far horizon about 100m away while I sat there with Trin. It was not part of the plan to sit there and be part of the beach scene but Trin was very very grumpy after falling and scraping her knee so she was alternately crying, alternately complaining in her baby language. She didn't even want to play with the sand and so we were stuck.
By 2pm, the tide had come in and the younger kids could bob about in their tiny floats. Trin decided to be less of a grump and explore the sea/sand. We asked a shopkeeper nearby about other beaches and he pointed us over the hill, saying in excellent English: Go past the golf course, or cut through it, through a bit of jungle, down the slope and you'll see it. About 10min walk.
KH went off to explore that while we hung around making sandcastles, splashing in the shallows. He came back half an hour later and said briefly: Very small beach, but MUCH cleaner. Got to go through some jungle and certainly not a 10min walk. With kids, maybe more like 20min from here, so about 30min walk from the jetty. Got an angmoh couple there and no one else. The beach incline is also steeper - got to watch the kids more closely there.
He was clearly interested enough to go back, but not this visit. It was 3pm and time for us to make tracks. The ferry would leave at 3.30pm. It was 3.15 and we were 20min walk away from the jetty. KH picked up Trin and walked ahead. The eldest two dawdled behind - way behind. We had to stop and yell for them to hurry several times. Right at the end, huffing and puffing, I, yes yours truly, had to do something I had not done in years - RUN! So there I was huffing and pounding the cement of the jetty with heavy steps. The two older kids ran in behind me. We made it though. All hot, tired, sweaty and salty.
We drove back to the condo and hit the showers. Then it was out to the city for dinner with mum, dad, Paul, KY his girlfriend and another steamy humid walk with crowds at Jonker Street. While the rest went for drinks at their favourite Jonker haunt - the Geographer's Cafe, KH and I and the younger kids went back for an early night.
So that was our visit to Pulau Besar - not the cleanest nor most idyllic of beaches, in fact we did laugh about our beach in front of the condo being as good as the one on Besar if not better - but I think the island is worth exploring and I think we will go back. Perhaps next time we will check out the other beach that KH saw or head towards the right of the jetty where I saw some untouched looking beaches as the ferry pulled away.
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